U.S. Officials Doubt Syrian Rebels' Chemical Attack Claim

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U.S. Officials Doubt Syrian Rebels' Chemical Attack Claim

Updated 2:56 p.m.

Opposition activists in Syria are claiming that the embattled regime of Bashar Assad gassed rebel forces in the battleground city of Homs on Sunday. U.S. officials tell Danger Room that they are skeptical about the rebels' chemical weapon claims, however.

Al Jazeera reported that seven people died after inhaling a gas sprayed by government forces in a part of Homs held by the rebel Free Syrian Army. "We don't know what this gas is but medics are saying it's something similar to sarin," rebel Raji Rahmet Rabbou told the Qatar-based news organization.

Al Jazeera posted two videos it said were obtained from "a field clinic in the city." The graphic videos appear to depict gasping victims of what could be construed as a nerve agent attack. However, the origins and contents of these videos have yet to be verified by other sources.

U.S. officials note that several things about the video are inconsistent with a sarin strike. There are complaints of strong smells; sarin is odorless. There are reports that the victims inhaled large amounts of the chemical; a minuscule of amount of inhaled sarin can be fatal.

"It just doesn't jibe with chemical weapons," one U.S. official tells Danger Room.

The specter of chemical warfare has long loomed over the brutal Syrian conflict, which rebels claimed has killed no fewer than 37,000 people. As early as this summer Assad's regime warned it might deploy its 500-ton chemical stockpile. "There was a moment we thought they were going to use it — especially back in July,” a U.S. official told Danger Room. "But we took a second look at the intelligence, and it was less urgent than we thought."

The relief was short-lived. Assad began trying to expand his arsenal with fresh sarin precursor materials – specifically, isopropanol and methylphosphonyl difluoride. U.S. and allied agents blocked at least some of the new acquisitions, but there was little they could do about the existing stockpile.